Save A Flower For Me
by Sakura4eva
Summary: Every Valentine's Day, Konoha 12 and the Sand 3 meet up and exchange gifts ... minus one - and it's not Sasuke. Nope, it's Shikamaru Nara. However, for once he shows up and he even has a present for someone else... ShikaSaku one shot


**Save A Flower For Me**

"Tee hee! Did you get chocolates, too?"

"Hah! Of course, I did."

"… Expensive?"

"Duh."

"Oh… But did you get stuffies, too?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at the two girls trying to outdo each other with their Valentine's gifts.

Yep, it was that time of year already – the dreaded February fourteenth – and twenty-year-old jounin, Haruno Sakura, was headed down to meet the entire Konoha 12 and Gaara and his siblings.

It was a tradition for the group to get together and give each other something on this day. It wasn't absolutely mandatory for you to bring gifts, but Naruto would definitely be in her hair for _months_ if she didn't show up.

Of course, she got gifts for people, which was the reason for her delay and the two bags hanging off her arms. Inside, all there was was just chocolates and such, mainly for the girls and the guys that liked that sort of thing (cough; _Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, Kankurou, Lee_). Why was it that each team seemed to have a sugar-addicted guy in it…?

Ah, well, it made getting gifts so much easier for them.

Stepping up the stairs to the roof of the Hokage tower (the place they always met up), she could hear Naruto already, yelling about something.

She listened harder.

"-NEJI!! NO! I just gave her _flowers_ – it doesn't mean anything!!"

Then Sakura heard the enraged voice of Hyuuga Neji.

"_Doesn't __mean__ anything_?!?! How _dare_ you play around with Hinata-sama's feelings!"

"Ack! No, I didn't mean- Hey! No jutsus! I just meant that it's the usual gift for the girls!"

"So she doesn't deserve something special?!"

Sakura stepped up the last stair. _'I suppose I'd better help him…'_ She sighed, and then spoke up. "Aw, calm down, Neji. You know Naruto's loves her. Just let them be, eh?"

Everyone turned to her. "Eh? Ah, Sakura-chaaan!!" Naruto yelled out happily as he rushed out to glomp her. "Look what I got you! Your favourite flowers – it took me a long time to find them; I had to _hand pick them_!"

"Ah… Naruto, they're gorgeous, but ... I don't think this is helping you gain any of Neji's favour…"

"Hm? What cha' mean, Sakura-chaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Sakura sighed as she watched him fly off. _'Ah, well. At least I've got the flowers still!_' She glanced down in her hands to make sure that they were still there. Yep, all good.

"So... Hey guys!" She grinned.

"Ah, Sakura!" Ino squealed, jumping up to hug her, then bouncing up in down in her arms. _'She seems especially excited…'_

"Uh…? Yeah, nice to see you … too?" Sakura turned her head to the others in confusion.

Kiba shrugged his shoulders. "We don't know, either. She's been like this since she got here."

"Erm, Ino-"

"I'm ENGAGED!!"

"…"

Shikamaru was the first to recover. "Who…? Chouji?"

"… Okay, nice going on ruining my surprise, stupid genius!"

"Aw, that's so sweet, Ino-chan!" Hinata said, giving her friend a sweet smile, while a few of the guys pat Chouji on the back.

Tenten, Temari, and Sakura all nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and, if it makes you feel any better; we knew anyway."

"EH?!?!"

"Well, we didn't know that you were engaged, but once you said it, we knew it was Chouji. You guys _have_ been dating for four years! It was bound to happen eventually…"

Ino grinned. "Yeah, true. But blame him for being so slow – _I_ sure wasn't going to propose to _him_! That's the guy's job."

Shikamaru glance at his friend with a questioning look in his eyes.

Luckily, Chouji and Shikamaru had been friends long enough for the Akimichi to know what he wanted to know. "I proposed today so I wouldn't have to get her chocolates."

The Nara gave him a grin. That was so him…

Unfortunately for Chouji, though, Ino heard this. "I still expect chocolates _and _flowers, Chouji-_kun_. It's not nice to not give your _FIANCE_ a Valentine's Day present… Right?"

Sakura, Temari, Hinata, and Tenten backed her up immediately, though they couldn't help but feel sorry for him. As much as they loved their friend, they knew how hard it was to deal with her sometimes.

"Alright, so Sakura, since you've just arrived – and the last one at that! – you need your gifts. I'll go first!" With that, Ino started the quick exchange, handing her the usual box of chocolates and a ribbon tied around it. But not just any ribbon – the one from their childhood.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at this.

"Well, you see, I'm engaged and you still don't have a man… Just thought that I'd give you this ribbon to make you pretty again, since you so _obviously_ need my help." Ino teased, sticking her tongue out.

"Agh! Ino-PIG!!"

"Hee hee!"

About five minutes later, everyone had given what they had brought to Sakura and vice versa, except for Shikamaru. Even Sasuke had given her something! A kunai and shuriken, custom-made (as was the Uchiha usual), because he said he didn't do anything 'romantic' and the two had grown into a more platonic relationship anyway, so she wasn't expecting him to give her more than that.

"Ah, don't worry about this dolt – he never gets anything for anything. I'm just satisfied he shows up." Ino threw one of Chouji's empty chocolate boxes at her team mate's sleeping head with a laugh. "I've given up on anything else."

Sakura grinned. "Nah, that's alright. I have more than enough already." Still, she wondered why she really felt disappointed. He gave her something last year, didn't he? No wait, where was he last year...?

As far as Sakura could remember, this was the first Valentine's Day that Shikamaru was actually present for. Maybe he had missions…? She sure wouldn't have missed him, she knew that. Sheesh, talk about putting in as little effort as you can!

"Well, I have to get going – even though it's Valentine's Day, accidents and injuries still happen. The Hospital sometimes even gets a little crowded on this day…"

"Annoyed lovers with a little too much strength?" Tenten asked, a laugh in her voice.

"Yeah, actually. You wouldn't believe how stupid guys-"

"-And girls." Kiba added in, grumpily, defending his 'kind'.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "-Fine, and girls, can get."

"Alright. Bye, Sakura-chan! Find yourself a guy, eh? This just might be your lucky day!"

"Aw, shuddup, Ino-pig…" But she smiled at them all and waved goodbye, this time leaving the 'ninja way', as she jumped off the roof-top, headed to the hospital.

Still, that disappointment from earlier did not leave.

--

It was late evening by the time Sakura had made her way to the front of her apartment, piles of chocolates and flowers in her hands.

Again, she had been bombarded by her rather recently expanding group of fan boys. She was now understanding how Sasuke had felt, so many years ago... Or maybe still?

She glanced over at the sound of shrieking females and had to bite her cheek to not burst out laughing – yep, _still_. Sasuke was absolutely crowded by _armies_ of scantily-dressed sixteen to twenty year-olds, begging Sasuke to look their way.

Sakura grimaced. 'I was seriously like THAT...? Urg. Thank goodness I grew out of that. It must be horrible for poor Sasuke...'

Just then, she felt a different chakra coming up behind her. Checking it, she realized it was one she recognized: Shikamaru.

Sakura spun around. "Shika!"

The Nara nodded, both hands stuffed in his pockets as he walked lazily up to her. "Hey."

"Where are you off to?"

He shrugged and the kunoichi gave a sigh, though she couldn't help but grin. He really never changed, did he?

Well, that was a good thing. If Shikamaru changed ... it would seem rather lonely.

The two of them had become closer through out the years, as the two local 'geniuses'. Unknown to everyone else, though, Shikamaru actually hated to be recognized like that. He told Sakura, though, when it came up in one of their conversations. Apparently he didn't mind her knowing a lot of things, actually.

Like how he had fan girls. Though that was unavoidable – they got quite annoyed when Sakura had talked to him too much one time. 'Getting too close', in their words.

Sakura blushed at that. Why: well, really? Who knows...

Shikamaru had turned away and walked off then. He must have been annoyed or something.

"I got accepted into ANBU today."

"Seriously?!" It was understandable, but it made her wonder about something... "Then why did you come to the gathering this morning? Oh! Not that we didn't want you there or anything, of course," she added hastily.

He nodded. "I hadn't ever come before. I thought that I should before I actually couldn't anymore. Besides, it's not ANBU was absolutely desperate – they didn't need me to start immediately."

"It's hard to think of being that busy, Shika." Sakura commented, her smile fond but somewhat nostalgic.

Shikamaru just shrugged, then he made a face like he just remembered something. "Mm. Hey, I never gave you anything today." He gave a glance at the stack still in her hands as they walked along the street.

She shook her head. "No, but Ino said that you never give anything, so it's okay. ... She didn't guilt-trip you, did she?"

Shikamaru sighed. "No, it's not that. I actually had these with me before, but I wasn't going to give it then. Too troublesome..."

Sakura gave a laugh at hearing his trademark word, mumbled from him again. "But, wait... What? 'These'?"

He smiled his lazy grin, then pulled a scroll out of his pocket. Ignoring her confused stare, he unraveled it with a smooth tug and mumbled something. Seconds later, something popped out in a cloud of smoke.

The Nara grabbed it and turned around before her trained eyes could catch anything, though. There was some rustling, then...

"Here." Shikamaru stuck a small bouquet of daisies out, not even looking at her. In truth it was because he was blushing (he wasn't used to doing this), but she frowned, taking it the wrong way.

"I don't want pity flowers." She stated bluntly.

Shikamaru shook his head, though, turning back to her as his blush died down a bit. "No, nothing like that." He explained hurriedly. "But, I mean, if you don't want them..." He started taking his hand back, when, all of a sudden, his hand was empty.

The Nara looked up at Sakura questioningly.

She offered him a grin. "Well... There's no sense in letting some perfectly good flowers go to waste..."

He smiled. "Of course."

Sakura nodded quickly. Maybe a bit _too_ quickly...? "Of course." She repeated. "Anyway, I'll ... see you around?"

Shikamaru gave her one of his lazy smirks. "Sure. See you 'round." With that, he turned around (as really, he wasn't sure what else to do) and started to walk to his favourite hill to watch clouds, when she called out to him.

"Hey, Shika?"

He paused in his steps and through a glance over his shoulder.

She grinned. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Then he watched her turn around herself, gather up her gifts and his flowers (he noticed she made sure the daisies didn't get crushed in any way by the rest of her things), and walk off.

He grinned to himself, then continued on to the hill. "Yeah... Happy Valentine's Day."

**AN: ... And that, my friends, is my Valentine's Day story! :D HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! Anyway, I got this out ... FIVE MINUTES before the end of V-day, so I'm actually quite proud of myself for getting this up on time. Mind you, starting a month in advance probably helped (writing a bit every week). Man, I'm such a procrastinator... :P Well, hope you enjoyed. :) Ja ne!**

**Dedication: **Uh... What are you talking about...? A dedication for a story like _this_?! Eh, heh heh.... *Looks around nervously*

**- _Cady _:D**


End file.
